Ever have a hard time coming up with fun activities for your Kids during Spring and Summer? Well, I decided we should all put our brains together and come up with an awesome list of ideas. So the next time your kids are driving you crazy, or are just bored out of their minds, you can refer to this list and hopefully get one that sparks your interest!
Summer break is a long time to keep kids occupied. So, here are 75 Kid and Family Activities for Spring and Summer. Enjoy!
- Draw with Sidewalk Chalk
- Play with Water Toys in the Yard
- Slip N Slide
- Make Giant Bubbles
- Paint Items Outside with Water (It dries and there is no mess!)
- Go to a Local Fishing Pond
- Backyard Campout
- Draw Monster Pictures on Paper, Hang them in the Yard and “Melt” them with the Hose or Spray Bottle
- Head to a Splash Park
- Go on a Treasure Hunt for Rocks and Paint them
- Participate in the Summer Movie Program! (Kid Friendly Movies are only $.50 during the Summer!)
- Collect Flowers and Press them in Books.
- Outdoor Picnic
- Create a Campfire and Do S’mores
- Head to the Zoo
- Make a Lemonade Stand and Sell it Outside to the Neighbors
- Take a Tour of a Fire Station
- Head to a Water Park
- Go on a Family Hike
- Have a Movie Night Outside with Pillows and Blankets
- Make Homemade Ice Cream
- Head to a Free Fireworks Show or Have Your Own at Home
- Do a Family Game Night with Fun Prizes at the End
- Go on a Bike Ride
- Take a Family Walk
- Go to a Park and Feed the Ducks
- Have Bathtime in the Bathtub with Glowsticks!
- Build a Fort Inside on a Rainy Summer Day
- Let them Color on your Windows with Window Markers or Crayons
- Purchase Solid Colored Shirts and Hand Kids a Bleached Pen to Create their Own Designs
- Make Your Own Playdoh
- Do an Outdoor Scavengar Hunt
- Color Ice Cubes and Set on the Drive way to Melt
- Fingerpaint with Pudding
- Make Tin Foil Dinners and Cook them in the Oven.
- Teach your Kids to Sew.
- Make cute hair clips with your Kids.
- Find Shapes in the Clouds
- Water Balloon Fight
- Play Outdoor Night Games
- Go to the Library Each Week and Read Books at the Park
- Make Homemade Popsicles
- Backyard Tic Tac Toe
- Make a Marshmallow Shooter, Spray Paint the Outside and Have Teams
- Blow Up Balloons and Cut Water Noodles in Half for a Fun Game.
- Make Your Own Slime
- ABC Hunt- Write all 26 Letters on your Driveway and Find Items Outside and Place Next to Each Letter.
- Make Rootbeer Floats
- Go to One of the Free Museum or Free National Park Days in your area
- Go to a Baseball Game
- Make SnoCones at Home
- Plant a Garden
- Go to a Dinosaur Museum
- Head to a Farm and Feed the Animals
- Participate in Kids Bowl Free!
- Go Star Gazing
- Go Miniature Golfing
- Head to Free Movies in the Park (Check local cities for times.)
- Do a Kid Fun Run
- Make Your Own Lava Lamp
- Go to a Library Storytime
- Go to a Carnival or County Fair
- Go Fishing
- Make Necklaces out of Colored Pasta
- Have a Princess Tea Party Outdoors
- Have a Muddy Sandbox Day
- Flashlight Tag
- Travel to New Playgrounds
- On Rainy Days, Create a Homemade Music Video
- Write with Chalk on your Trampoline. (It washes right off and looks more like a Chalkboard!)
- Make homemade popsicles with fruit juice and popsicle molds.
- Have a read-a-thon day at the Park with treats.
- Go have a picnic at a park or a camp ground site.
- Haul the TV and DVD player outside for a starlit movie night.
- Door Bell Ditch Someone with Ding Dongs!
Feel free to share this post with all of your friends, family members and anyone who might want a reference list for fun Spring and Summer ideas! I’ve pinned it on Pinterest for all of you to Re-Pin too! I don’t know about you, but it is hard for me to come up with ideas on my own sometimes. So lists always help me. 🙂
(Thanks to all the Freebies2Deals Readers who submitted these awesome ideas!)
Kristin
Thanks for the great ideas!
Lauren
This is fantastic thanks!
Laura T
What a cheerful post! I remember doing lots of these as a child myself.
Shannon M
Thank you for all these great ideas! We have just over a week left and I am so excited to spend some quality time with the kiddos!
Bethany
These ideas are great. I am always looking for new ways to keep the kids entertained in the summer break. I also love how there are links to some of the ideas!
Mandy
Thanks for the great ideas, I do home daycare, so these refreshed my idea list!
Rachel R
This is an awesome list. Thanks for all your help!
Amanda Villalobos
Great list! My girls just started sewing with embroidery thread and felt last week and are addicted 😉 Making Pillows and flet blankets is very easy, even my four year old can do it.
Stephanie F
Love this post! We are always looking for things to do in the summer…. One of our very favorite things to do is make playdoh/gak using all different recipes/colors/scents!
Raygan
Thanks for all the ideas. I’m always looking for something to keep my little rugrats busy!
brandy bisbee
thanks for the great ideas, i’ve been waiting for this!
Tammy V.
Thank you for the awesome list of wonderful ideas.
Jennifer Ramirez
Love all the great ideas! Thank You!
Lindsey
Thanks for taking the time to put this together!!
Kari
Absolutely wonderful suggestions! I’ve been making a list of things to do with my youngest son, the only one left at home. Big help!
Amanda Schildmeier
What a great list, my kids love anything crafty or outdoors! We have made homemade playdough & also have tried “cloud dough” which is just like damp sand at the beach. So fun to play with it outside in the yard. Here is a link to make it (REALLY easy): https://www.jugglingwithkids.com/2011/11/cloud-dough.html
Gretchen B
you could also creat a back yord carnival for the neighborhood kids. Using some of the fun freebies as prizes.
jennifer shank
great ideas these remind me of when i was a kid. these are great ideas for memories.
Samantha
love these ideas! One of our favorite summer activities is hitting up the children’s story and craft hour at our local library. Some days it’s just too hot to be outside so another favorite is heading to the mall. we get slushies and the kids love walking around looking at all the neat stores. plus, they have a play area that’s tons of fun and air-conditioned 🙂
Lynne
So nice to see this list. While several of these are common ideas I agree with you that when kids are crazy it is sometimes hard to think of something on the spot. May need to print this and stash in a kitchen drawer!
Nicole
Great ideas, thanks!
And remember, a baby that can sit on their own only needs a big bowl of water + floating toys to have fun wile the big kids are on the slip-&-slide or a pool. Supervision required, of course. 🙂
Jennifer
Thank you so much for these ideas. I always feel like I can’t come up with anything to do. I really like these ideas and will definitely be using them with my little one! THANK YOU!
Julie
So many great ideas! You really don’t have to spend a lot for kids to have fun. We spend so much time outdoors with our kids, ages 3 and 9. Having friends come over keeps them happy and busy for hours too. My 3 yr old loves to paint rocks and sticks. That keeps him busy for hours! That’s one of my favorite ideas. My oldest loves all sports and both love to go frog and bug hunting. Then we let them go at the end. We also walk down to the stream and collect tadpoles and keep them until they turn to frogs. It’s fun and a great lesson for them!
Michelle Lund
I love anything free. I also check out the boards at the local library and Natural History Museum, seems like they can find the hidden gems of activities out there as well.
Michelle P
Love this list! Totally pinned it 🙂
Another great resource for fun activities that don’t require much preparation is the Kiwi Crate blog. They have what they call “Two Ingredient Tuesdays” where you only need 2 things to do the craft, activity or experiment (among MANY other awesome ideas!!). Its fantastic!
https://www.kiwicrate.com/blog/
Ashlee
This is great! My kids also love to play with shaving cream when they are playing in their little pool outside.
Angie C
I’m printing them out right now- these will be so helpful! I truly appreciate everyone listing Summer activities and bucket lists- we’ll surely be able to stave off boredom and computer games a good bit of the time! Thanks Melea! XO
Brandy
My kids love color baths. Just add a couple of drops of food coloring to the bath water. We started it because my 2 yr old was terrified of baths and we were desperate for something to make baths fun for him.
Sarah Warne
This is a great list! I can’t wait to try out the glowsticks in the bathtub one with my 2 year old!!
amy b.
Something we love to do is act like tourist in our own city. Its great to go see all the things that a tourist would and makes you really appreciate your hometown (even though I’ve lived here my whole life – 36 years.)
Jeanette
Thanks! We get so bored with so much free time! I like #32 and 67. We live in AZ and usually do not venture outside because it is so hot!
Amanda
These are some great ideas. I just bought some water toys for the backyard and my daughter loves them. Target had the best deals on water toys that I bought.
Carie Lilga
Great ideas !!
Erica S.
Wow thanks for all the great ideas! Always nice to have something differant to do. Thanks again!
Jamie
Thanks for the Great ideas. Already pinned!
Carrie
Awesome list, thanks so much! Today is the last day of school for my daughter, and she’ll be helping to keep her baby brother entertained while I’m working this summer. This will definitely give her some ideas of different things to do.
Britta Hughes
Awesome ideas! I pinned it and will be printing it as well to keep on hand. One other activity we love on hot days is to freeze small plastic toys in a big bowl of water and then I let the kids chip at it with a small stick and play with it until all the toys melt out.
Emily
This is an awesome list to have!! Thank you for all the great ideas!
Stacey Boyd
It’s like a bucket list for kids!! I guess I better get started. Lots of fun ideas. My 3 year old will love this!
Megan Keele
Love love love!!!! I am going to take these activities and write them on large craft sticks and stick them in a jar so my daughter can pick one each day this summer. She thinks we have to have “something fun” planned everyday and since I am VERY indecisive this will take some of the guess work out! Thanks for the awesome list Melea!!
Sarah Garcia
Free splash pads Highland, Gateway, Providence, Ogden
Julie Barker
These are good for fun date ideas too
Britney
These are great ideas! Thank you.
ashley metzger
We made a bird feeder using a pine cone found at the park, peanut butter and rolled it in bird food!
Brenda Taylor
Thank you so much for taking the time to create such a wonderful list! Sometimes it is so hard to think of something to keep the kids busy and active over the long summer days. We will defiantly be using many of these ideas.
Katie P
Thanks for all the great suggestions!
Melanee
Thank you for compiling the list! I know a few fun things we just added to our summer break!
Stephanie
Great list! I found another great summer activity list that is specific to Utah that has a lot of great ideas. It’s in the Utah Valley Magazine for May/June 2012. Check it out!
https://blog.uvmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Summer_PDF3.pdf
Tiana
Frisbee is a great outdoor game for summer, I’ve also been learning to play catch with lacrosse. Try it out.
Erica
These are great ideas! I have been waiting for this post to get up!! I will have to say that something I enjoy doing with the kids that isn’t on this list is making paper bag puppets and having a puppet show. Just use a brown paper bag (lunch sack size) and you can either create your own puppets with construction paper and crayons, or you can Google puppet cut-outs and print them off to color and glue on your paper bag.
kim
Thanks for the great list! I can’t wait to try a bunch of them
Heidi
I’m always looking for fun things to do in the summer (especially free) so thanks for the great ideas! 🙂
Felicia
Thanks for the great ideas. Sometimes it is hard to think of these in the moment but with a list you don’t have to.
Kelly Amos
Thanks so much for all the great ideas! I am always trying to think of something for my kids to do.
Natalie
Thank you, thank you, thank you for these! I just quit my job to stay at home with my 3 1/2 year old and 8 month old so I’ll definitely need some ideas for summer fun!
Angie
Thanks for this list…it’s nice to get ideas from others instead of trying to think of things all by yourself!
Toni
Thanks for all these great ideas!
Jennifer Coon
So many awesome ideas for little ones, thank you!
Darci Thorsted
I don’t have kids, but I have lots of nieces and nephews and this looks like a fun way to keep them busy this year! Thanks for sharing!
Aubri
Great ideas! Thanks. One of our faves is to set up a little table outside and do tie dyes. We do shirts, socks, etc. I get the shirts when they are 5 for $10 at Michael’s or Joanne Fabric. 🙂
Krinn
Thanks for some ideas! Living in the Phoenix area, we are always looking for ideas that we can do INdoors(our outdoor playing season is coming to an end 🙠).
Brooke
These will make me the fun aunt 🙂
BranDi
thanks for the great ideas!
Elizabeth Rowley
This is awesome! Perfect timing because I will be having two extra kids all summer and I really needed some idea of how to keep all four busy!
kt
I love how you incorporate some service in there. I think it is great to show kids that we share as a family, but also with the community. The spirit of giving has to be fostered from a young age – by example!
Kellie
Thanks for the great ideas! My little one might be too young for some of these, but I’ve been trying to think of fun, age appropriate things to do this summer!
Julie
Thanks for the list, i always start out with high hopes for summer and then waste half of it. This year we are getting a big poster board and making the list and putting it on the wall where we will always see it.
sheila
Great ideas!
Shannon
Best.list.ever! You are awesome, thanks malea!
Emilee
Thanks for the fun list. It’s always nice to get a few new things to try out. People are so creative!
Marchaan
Thank you so much for taking the time to put this all together! I especially love the mostly free part. It doesn’t take a lot to make children happy or help them learn something new.
Becky Sandusky
I am so glad I checked this out. I have been planning other activites for my kids. These will help out.
Lori Weidner
Great ideas! Also if you are in the Ogden UT area – you can go to the Ogden Nature Center for free on Saturdays in the summer!
Tamra Maycock
This is GREAT! Me and my little ones take walks and go to the fields behind our house to find rocks to paint. We have also hot glued them together to make fun things. My oldest daughter made a Giraffe that is so cute! I love that now I have even more ideas to have some fun without having to break the budget. 🙂
Leisa
Thanks so much for posting this list! I was dreading summer – I fear it will be a battle to get my kids to turn off the tv & video games, so I appreciate a long list of Lternatives 🙂
Brienne B. Alder
Thank you for all these great ideas. This helps a lot as I have no idea what to do haha no jk… but really they will help keep us busy… Thanks again!!!
Denise Kasbohm
My 12 year old made a list like this last summer. I loved it. Everyone should print it out, post it up somewhere in your house and when your kids say “I am bored” you can pick something to have fun with!!
Our favorite was : Have a Midnight Picnic. 🙂
Sue
Thanks for the ideas!!!
Krystal
Thanks for the good ideas. They will come in handy!
Heather McKee
Thank you Melea! I always have a hard time thinking of something inexpensive to do when boredom strikes!
Ana
Love them all! I’m just going to print this list . . . and check them off when we do it! This will be a fun reward for my kids to be able to choose what they would like to do!! Thanks!
Jen
This is such a great list- School isn’t out and already my son is getting bored! I can’t wait to start using this!
Dena
I bookmarked the list so I have it handy this summer when I need ideas! Thanks!
Laura C
What a great list…I am printing it and putting it on the fridge. Since we got a great slip and slide on sale thanks to F 2 Deals, we are ready for summer!
Kelli Jones
Lists always help me too! Thank You SO much for all your wonderful posts. And just for kicks… one thing that my kids LOVE to do (but sadly we don’t do it very often). We clear everything out of the kitchen, lay down towels where needed. We then drench the floor with water and baby shampoo. They have an indoor waterslide and my floor gets clean!! 😉 Although… I do have to mop up the water afterwards, but it’s worth it!
Brook
Thanks for the fabulous list! This is so perfect! It’s nice to have such a great list of free/cheap things to do with kids. Thank you!
Kim Cahoon
This list is great. There are so many new ideas for me to try with my kids! Thanks.
Lindsay
What fun ideas! I was running a little dry on things to do and this just gave me some great ideas. Thanks so much!
Catrina
Thank you for this list! I have an 8, 6, and 4 year old. We are going to print off this list and do one thing per day.
Kristal
Do like my boys are doing. Have a NBA-B league. National Basketball Association Backyard League……. They have had drafts and all. They are so excited and have already started playing!! The best part, no parents are involved!!! Fun, fun.
Rachel S.
This will be good for summer. Its hard keeping my kids entertained sometimes.
Katrina Fisher
This is a fantastic list that I’m sure will be very helpful this summer. Thanks!
Tarrah
Thank you thank you thank you! I am always looking for ways to entertain the kids
Cristal
Bring on the summer fun!
Kari Buccambuso
These are awesome ideas! I wish I had something else to add, but these are so great I can’t think of anything else.
Liz
Thanks for the wonderful ideas! Along with story time at the library our library is doing a summer reading program where any kid can participate. The kids can either read the books themselves or have them read to them. After reading the number of books designated by the library the kids get a prize and goody bag. Also, where we live we can go pick strawberries which is a lot of fun! And the kids get to eat them while they pick! 🙂
Damaris
I love all these ideas! Here’s another one my kids enjoy: They color with markers on coffee filters and then we spray them with a squirt bottle and watch the colors spread. Last summer the neighbor kids all came over to join us and we got to see some fun, creative artwork!
lacy hilton
Thank you for the great ideas! we love to go on bike rides in the summer!
Dana Holman
Thankyou for all the work you put into this list and the entire website. It is so helpful 🙂
Janet
I love camping in the backyard! We even sometimes camp in the front room of the house, tent and all!
Julie
Way cool! Thanks!
Melissa
A big thank you for putting this together! I’m going to prin it out and keep it handy. Unfortunately we are on the track system and don’t have much of a summer but I’m going to fill those 3 weeks we do have off with a bunch of these fun ideas!
Kelly Vincent
This is so great! I was just starting to think of a list of ways to keep my kids busy when you shared this. I’m also sharing this on my blog today: https://dixiedollardeals.blogspot.com/
Thanks again!
Janae
Thank you so much for all the ideas! This will be so helpful this summer 🙂
Jen Smith
Sounds like fun! I’m sure the kids will love this.
Genae
Thank you so much for the fun ideas… we’re always looking for something to do on those lazy summer days! Some of the best memories as a child are just doing things together with my sisters!
Ami Jordan
Wow. Thanks for putting this amazing list together!! You’re awesome 🙂
Becky M
The link on Pinterest doesn’t go anywhere, just so you know.